Jam packed evening for goodgym Southwark - a sweaty 3km run from Old Spike to Old Alleynian in time to catch the solar eclipse.

Some novel methods to watch it were attempted including a holy hat and a pasta spoon.. Thank you to David for packing spare glasses so everyone could get a glimpse!

After the EXCITEMENT of the eclipse we helped Ian with trimming the pavement side hedge.

Then onwards for some well deserved ice creams at Oddono's and crispy cold pints at the Actress.

Another week goes by and another two newbies. Well, technically, Sana has done a few community sessions with BFC, but this was her first group run and she brought along Kp who came to claim her first good deed! Cecilia was back! Great to know she enjoyed the first session and wanted to come back for more.

As Old Spike filled up, Sam got started with his intro speech earlier as the group had to split up and go to two tasks. Yes, not everyday we have two tasks, but there was a call-out for GoodGym to help out at an urgent task and we responded. Before we got on with the running, Sam asked his ice-breaker question first which was: "Who would you write a fan fiction book about / what would be your specialist subject on Mastermind?"

Only Nelly and Sam relieved their fan fiction book, which would be based on Hopper from Stranger Things and Taylor Swift, respectively. Others opted for the latter question and people had topics like breeds of dogs and cats, nature and artists from specific dates...Justin Bieber from 2009 - 2012, anyone?

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Spick and span

After a quick warm up on the Green, Sam led Roberta, Fi, Nelly and David on a run to Sedan Way/ East Street to fill planters with topsoil as they weaved their way around people on Rye Lane and the Surrey Canal Walk before cutting through Burgess Park to get there within just over 20 minutes to meet Peter, Ed and Vic. They used the 35 minutes they had to fill 3 planters out of 5 whilst listening to the Eurovision playlist... Meanwhile, Maria and Emma worked as a team to led and backmark the second group consisting of Andrada, Cecilia, Kp, Rosalind and Sana as they met Valentina, Elena, Isaac and Phil there. The team split into two, one focusing on the gardening and tidying up the outside whilst the other half concentrated on window cleaning. They did both tasks with efficiency as they were done before 20:00 and opted to set out of their run back earlier.

As both teams ran their routes back, they bumped into each other on Rye Lane with around 500 metres to go! Great timing team as they could stretch and do the cool down together. Thanks to Emma for backmarking and walking back with Kp and Sana.

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Thank You to all the GG-ers

A personal thanks from me to all those who came out last week! Congrat again to the newbies; Kp and Sana for coming along and hope you had a lovely first group run session with us. Kudos to all!

Despite it being the end of the January Challenge, we still had plenty of GoodGymers keen to run on a Wednesday night and do good in their local area! Sam opened up Old Spike to meet the friendly faces of Daryl, David, Isaac, Lucy, Maria, Nelly, Roberta, Steve and Tim.

Sam went through his usual GG intro speech and tonight, he only had an ice-breaker snap-poll, which was to do with National (deep-pan) Pizza Day (in the US) and Lunar New Year happening on Saturday. He asked which one you would order when having an food app up: deep pan or Chinese?

Winning by a few votes was Chinese!

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Brushing up on our painting skills

After a quick warm-up in the alleyway, Sam led the group out back onto Rye Lane with Lindy backmarking as she was carrying her work items with her (as she wanted to make her way back home after the task). Speedy Sam rushed down Rye Lane, Surrey Canal Walk and into Burgess Park (with a slight diversion) before 500 metres later arriving at St. Mary Newington Close to find James, Paulin and Phil already tucking into a tub of pink paint and applying it onto a wooden bench. Yes, we came over to Southwark Communities to apply another lick of paint on the donated garden furniture as Spring is just around the corner and the residents will be out and about enjoying the garden. At the task, we met Lottie (task owner), Folarin and eventually, after taking the bus over, Louise.

With loads of paint tins and paint brushes, Sam split the team:

• As mentioned, James, Paulin and Phil applied pink paint to a bench and had to quickly sand a mossy chair before quickly putting pink paint on it.
• Daryl, Isaac and Lindy painted two wooden chairs pink.
• Folarin, Lucy and Steve initially had to sand a bench before applying a grey-ish green paint.
• Louise, Maria and Tim concentrated on one wooden bench and painted it blue.
• David, Nelly and Roberta applied blue paint on two wooden chairs.

It was such a therapeutic task and we had plenty of time (40 minutes) to apply a good coat of paint. Once it came to time, we took back the paint and paint brushes to the kitchen to wash up before taking our mandatory group photo.

On the way back, we said goodbye to a couple of runners as they peeled off home, but those who stayed until the end got a lovely stretch!

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Thank You to all the GG-ers

A personal thanks from me to all those who came out last night! It was a chilly night, but hopefully running faster than usual helped with warming the core. Thank you to Daryl and Lindy for backmarking on the run. We're off to Salvation Army Camberwell Corps next Wednesday for more painting on Valentine's Day!